I have a question in regards to how to answer the following question as part of the application process for California Baptist University (MS in Counseling Psychology program).
The question reads as follows:
“Have you ever received psychiatric treatment or counseling, yes or no?” If yes, please provide a brief explanation
Now, there was a month during my high school years that I did receive some psychiatric treatment and counseling. I’m wondering if writing that down as part of my application essays would hurt my chances of getting accepted.
Also, if I chose not to answer that question truthfully, would the university be able to undercover the truth somehow?
Hm. I’d call and ask why they’re asking. You don’t have to identify yourself on the phone. They probably just want to know what your firsthand experience is with the field you want to enter.
You absolutely must not lie on the application. However, if they were asking in order to hold your earlier treatment against you, that would likely be illegal discrimination. I doubt that’s what’s going on, but they should be able to give you a better explanation on the phone.
This seems like the kind of question they probably shouldn’t be asking. It’s borderline protected health information - while you don’t have to have a mental health diagnosis to get psychiatric treatment, a lot of people do have one when they’re in treatment, and any ‘brief explanation’ would likely reveal that information.
Is there not an option to ‘prefer not to answer’ or leave it blank? If there is not, I might select ‘yes’ but then write “I prefer not to discuss my private health information” in the box. Of course, that does heighten your chances of not being accepted, but frankly, I’m not sure I’d want to attend a counseling program that thinks it’s OK to force applicants to disclose that information on their application to graduate school. (If they want to know about first-hand experience with clinical/counseling work, there are much better ways to ask that).
Hanna’s suggestion to call them up is a better and less snarky approach.